Vallenar was eclipsed-
In 1893, three groups of scientists arrived in the Vallenar’s hills, in the current Province of Huasco, to witness a total solar eclipse. Two of them are known among astronomers and historians: Pickering and Obrecht.
However, the least known expeditionary of this eclipse: John Martin Schaeberle, was the one who left the greatest amount of record of a true adventure lived at that time, bequeathing one of the best photographs of the sun king of the Victorian era.
By David Ortiz
Eclipse studies opened a new study field in astronomy. Moreover, it allowed the incorporation of a newly invented technology in the 19th century: photography. It was in 1842, when the European began photograph eclipses, spreading this technique throughout the world. Since then, there have been several unsuspected discoveries, including the sighting of the mysterious sun’s corona, a pale halo of light emanating from the sun’s black disk. Our conception of the sun king has changed forever.
At that time, it was very difficult to follow eclipses. Mauro Barbieri, PhD in Astronomy, emphasizes the difficulty of the subject: «In the 19th century, this work was really complex First, determine the exact location, see how to get there without a weather record and accurate mapping. Many times, without prior knowledge, the expeditions were exposed to the climate or to more dangerous things, for example the Italian expedition that reached the Indian jungle among tigers and diseases, imagine how they were exposed there.»
In 1893, a total solar eclipse was experienced, which also had 100% coverage of the solar disk in Vallenar, just like the one in 2019. One of them was in charge of W. H. Pickering, a renowned American astronomer and director of the Harvard Observatory. The other was under the responsibility of the new director of the National Astronomical Observatory (OAN), the scientist Alberto Obrecht, and the last expedition, of which more details are known despite being the least recognized, was led by the German-American John Martin Schaeberle. Barbieri said that «he was an innovator, using recording in a complex camera that was very difficult to transport and use.»
Foreground on Inti
This expedition led by Schaeberle published a logbook with all the details of his visit. There, he described how they arrived at the Port of Carrizalillo, where they were received by the British consul, in what was then the most important port in Atacama, which had a railway line connecting to the interior. Loading their instruments onto the machinery, they set off on a journey through cactus and desert plains, crossing the areas of Canto del Agua and the current Pan-American Highway, to the Donkey sector and the Merceditas station, where they must unload their very delicate equipment that they mount on a mule caravan to heat to Los Bronces Mine, crossing about 30 kilometers among the hills.
Mounted in caravans with the latest equipment, hats, gear, and water, they arrived at their final destination, where they set up their equipment in the hope of obtaining a photograph of the stellar corona with the flashes of incandescent gases on April 16, 1893.
Dr. Barbieri explained that «this eclipse did not contribute much to the research of the sun, but these photos were the highest quality in this regard until the 1940s. They were so good that they could not be surpassed in technique until after that time. He had a special telescope for photography that required slabs with silver on top of it, with an elaborate technology that was very complex, and Schaeberle was a master in this field.»
For their part, the Chileans Obrecht and the astronomer Carlos Barrios arrived at the Aris Mine, in the Agua Amarga sector. Obrecht describes this event in a gloomy way in his notes: “as the shadow [of the moon] approached; instead, the sky took on a somber aspect and the various objects seemed to be illuminated with the light that sodium chloride gives, something cadaverous.» Meanwhile, Pickering’s team made meteorological notes describing the temperature drop during the eclipse and also took photographs.
